What would you do if your partner left you at the altar? Would you get sad or get mad?
What would you do?
27-year-old Kayley Stead was getting ready for her wedding day with her bridal party when she received the call no bride ever wants to get.
They even tried to hide Kayley’s phone but Kayley still found it and learned the news.
Her groom wasn’t coming.
The wedding weekend had started out great. She and her bridal party rented an Airbnb so they could get ready together on the day of her wedding.
Kayley had no idea something was already going on because she and her partner hadn’t spoken since 4 pm the day before the wedding.
She only knew when she saw a missed call from her groom’s father.
The groom and his groomsmen did the same thing the bridal party did. They all stayed together at a rental house the night before the wedding.
In the middle of the night, the groom went for a drive and never came back.
The groomsmen looked for him and made sure he was gone before informing Kayley.
When they were sure he wasn’t coming back, one of the groomsmen called Kayley’s best friend to break the bad news.
The bridesmaids didn’t want to tell Kayley first because they needed more details so they hid Kayley’s phone to buy some time.
But Kayley found out anyway.
Kayley said it was okay. They were going to push through anyway.
She said that this wasn’t unusual for the groom. He always went out on long drives or walks when he was feeling anxious to clear his head.
Kayley believed he was going to show up at the last minute to the ceremony. But by 11 am, the groom’s father called Kayley and told her that her groom was not going to show up.
Kayley was devastated.
Plus she still had to break the news to her bridal party, her family, her hairstylist, and her photographer. Thank goodness her bridesmaids took care of telling the news to the guests.
What her videographer said, though, changed how the rest of the day would go.
They suggested that Kayley go on with the party anyway. It was meant to be a joke to lighten the mood but Kayley thought, through the encouragement of her sister, why not?
She’s already spent the money and her guests were already there.
Why not just go through with the party?
And that’s exactly what Kayley did.
“I decided I still wanted to enjoy the day because I worked my socks off for this day. And I was excited to spend time with my friends and my family and I was looking forward to the nacho bar,” Kayley told Kelly Clarkson.
When her sister and bridesmaids told the guests what happened, they were devastated but they decided to stay anyway.
“I asked for 10 minutes to myself before I saw my guests and then rather than walking down the aisle, I walked around the corner in my dress and had everybody just looking at me,” Kayley said. “Nobody knew what to do, I think they were a bit scared to say something, and then everybody just started cheering and hugging me.”
Kayley, her bridal party, and the groomsmen walked into the venue with Lizzo’s song, “Good as Hell,” playing and that set the tone for the day.
It was a full-on celebration.
And Kayley still had the best parts of the ceremony take place.
She danced with her loved ones.
She got to dance with her dad, her brother, and even the groomsmen.
And the ultimate revenge, Kayley punched the top of her wedding cake with a big smile on her face.
Kayley successfully turned around what could have been the worst day of her life into a core life memory.
“It was a day that I will always remember with pure happiness,” Kayley shared with Kelly.
After that, she canceled her honeymoon and packed up her ex-fiancé’s belongings, and left them with his family.
Her ex-fiancé never reached out to Kayley to apologize, which disappointed Kayley who wanted him to be responsible for his actions.
Because she has the greatest friends, Kayley’s best friend and maid of honor, Jordie Cullen, set up a GoFundMe page to help Kayley recover some of the wedding fees.
All in all, Kayley spent about £12,000 with no financial help from the groom.
The world heard and helped.
They were able to raise £13,175 for Kayley.
Hear Kayley’s full story and learn what Kelly had in store for her in the video below!
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